Month: September 2025

Mark your calendars if you’re attending the Gothenburg Book Fair this week – To My Brother author E.L. Karhu is performing there!

Author E.L. Karhu – whose name you’ll recognize for her novel To My Brother – will be performing at the Gothenburg Book Fair, participating in panels and conversations with other authors and dramaturges from Thursday to Sunday. The schedule is as follows:

Thursday 12:30-13:20, panel Fearless and vulnerable: women’s perspective in playwriting (Dramascenen)
Should we need a specifically female perspective in dramaturgy? How can we move towards a more equal society? The discussion is initiated by prominent Estonian playwright Piret Jaaks, in conversation with playwrights from neighbouring countries. The panel is in English.

Fri 11-11:45 seminar Finnish feminisms and queer spaces (Room R22 + 23)
How do today’s dramaturgs reflect on and reshape the Finnish feminisms and the quuer perspective on stage? Guided by professor emerita and queer activist Tiina Rosenberg, this seminar invites to a conversation between four bold voices in the Finnish theatre scene: Leea Klemola, whose shameless characters defy norms; E.L. Karhu, who explores caring and alliance building; Saara Turunen, and Arni Rajamäki. A thought-provoking conversation about stage art, politics, and identity. The panel is in English.

Sat 10-11:30 Antigones arv | Antigone’s Inheritance (Room G4)
Staging of Athena Farrokhzad’s play Antigone’s Inheritance directed by Saga Gärde, followed by a conversation with other playwrights whose work has drawn from myths. E.L. Karhu contributes with her experience of writing a play about the myth of Medea. The event is in Swedish and English.

Sat 15:30-15.50 The Drama of Care (Dramascenen)
Playwrights Johanna Emanuelsson and E. L. Karhu discuss their new plays, A Swedish Crime (“Ett svenskt brott”) and Marian Blessing escapes from a facility (“Marian Blessing karkaa laitoksesta”) in which they explore the shortcomings of care and how this crisis has influenced their most recent work. Moderated by Kristina Hagström-Ståhl. The discussion is in English.

Sun 11:00-11:20 True Crime on Stage (Dramascenen)
How does the true crime genre work on the stage? Can stories of real-life violence and crime be transformed into meaningful theatre, and what are the risks of sensationalism or exploitation? A discussion with two playwrights exploring this territory: Kristian Hallberg and E. L. Karhu. Karhu’s play, Marian Blessing flyr från en anstalt, is based on a true story of a vengeful and violent elderly woman. What can be found in the darkness of these stories, and what does it reveal about our society? The playwrights share their strategies and ethical considerations in conversation with Kristina Hagström-Ståhl. The event is in English.

E.L. Karhu debuted as novelist with To My Brother. The book follows a greedy, lonely girl who watches her beautiful, popular brother atop the sensual bodies of his girlfriend candidates. If someone were to look at the girl, they might see a loser who binges on sweets, devours soap operas, and trails her brother like a shadow. Her intense narration forces one to stare, to look more closely. Is this only strange, or is there, actually, something that you can relate to? To My Brother is filled with dark humour, the oddities of an out-grown sibling relationship, of many-facets lust, and social and sexual hierarchies. It is striking, deep, entertaining, funny, and tragic at the same time, and it certainly is a novel unlike anything else you have read.

Don’t miss out on these events!

Wonderful news: The Thick of the Forest by Linnea Kuuluvainen has been nominated for the Mirrormere Prize, awarded yearly by the Finnish Tolkien Society.

The Thick of the Forest by Linnea Kuuluvainen continues to make waves and enchant the literary scene: the book has been nominated for the Mirrormere Prize, a yearly prize awarded by the Finnish Tolkien Society to the best book with fantastical elements published in the previous year, picked from a selection of five nominees. The winner will be announced in late October, during the Helsinki Book Fair.

The Thick of the Forest is set in a near future where nature has started fighting back against human exploitation, destroying the world as we know it. Mixing elements from Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in the unique setting of a Finnish forest capable of utter destruction, The Thick of the Forest is an entrancing and linguistically captivating first novel about a forest that haunts people and two women, Edla and Ingrid, whose stories intersect. In Finland, the book is published by Gummerus, and its foreign rights have already been sold for Bulgarian, Croatian, Estonian, and Slovak.

Linnea Kuuluvainen (b. 1996) is a Turku-based author with a background in literature and creative writing studies. Her prose is distinguishable for its magical realism and lyrical depth.

Warm congratulations to the author, the publisher, and all nominees – and fingers crossed!

Lindeni, part of the Albatros Media group has secured the Slovak rights to The Thick of the Forest by Linnea Kuuluvainen, marking the fourth foreign language deal for the title.

The magic of the Finnish forest continues to enchant international publishers: The Thick of the Forest by Linnea Kuuluvainen is now travelling to Slovakia, where it will be published by Lindeni, a brand by Albatros Media. This is the fourth foreign language territory for this title.

The Thick of the Forest is a literary dystopian novel that follows two women, Edla and Ingrid, along two different timelines on the background of a Finnish forest that is raging against human exploitation, and of an increasingly authoritarian state. As the two women’s stories intertwine in unexpected ways, the book explores the relationship between mankind and nature with a rich, enchanting language. For its themes and sharp eye on women’s rights in authoritarian states, and for its strong characters, The Thick of the Forest can be pitched as a twist on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale set in the Finnish forest.

The Thick of the Forest is author Linnea Kuuluvainen’s debut, and was nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize for the best debut of the year upon its release. The book also received glowing reviews and has already travelled to Bulgaria, Croatia, and Estonia.

Lindeni is a new publishing brand part of the Albatros Media group. Its list boasts a selection of domestic and international authors, including Andrzej Sapkowski, Sally Rooney, and Sarah Perry.

In Finland, The Thick of the Forest is published by Gummerus.

Relacja has secured the Polish rights to He Who Saw The Deep by Selja Ahava, marking the first foreign language deal for this new title.

He Who Saw The Deep by Selja Ahava is starting this season with a bang: Relacja has acquired the Polish rights, marking the first foreign language deal for this title.

He Who Saw The Deep is an exploration of two themes central to the human experience: love and mortality. The narrator is Liisa, a middle-aged woman in whose family people tend to die young and who has found love with her husband Henrik later in life. As Liisa’s only living relative falls deathly ill and Henrik is away, Liisa copes with her fear by writing stories that give her a chance to explore the idea of mortality and the – impossible – pursuit of immortality. The stories follow situations where the line between life and death, the dead and the living, is walked, observed, and redrawn. The structure, in which fragments of myths, stories, and other media are weaved together, results in a modern rhapsody that nods at ancient myths like the Epic of Gilgamesh, that also gives the book its title.

Selja Ahava has established herself as a prominent literary voice in the Finnish scene: her Things That Fall From The Sky won the EU Literature Prize and has been sold to 28 territories, and her production is read with enthusiasm in Finland, where her work are published by Gummerus.

Relacja is an established Polish publisher whose list includes Joan Didion, Marta Dzido, Sabina Jakubowska, and Jessica McDiarmid.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher!

Mark your calendars: Ellen Strömberg, author of YA success We’ll Just Ride Past, will be in conversation with the Anglo-Swedish society on September 18th (18:00-19:15 London time)!

Ellen Strömberg is one of Finland’s most prominent YA voices: her novel We’ll Just Ride Past won her the August Prize, the most prestigious literary award for a work written in Swedish, a nomination for the Finlandia Junior Prize, Finland’s most prestigious literary award, wide critical acclaim and an audience of enthusiastic readers. The novel is also gaining international success, as it has already travelled to 6 foreign language territories.

On Thursday September 18th (18:00-19:15 London time) Strömberg will be in online conversation with the Anglo-Swedish society, a non-profit organization primarily based in London that aims to foster cultural exchange between Britain and Sweden and the Swedish-speaking communities. You can find more details about the event and sign up to take part here.

We’ll Just Ride Past follows Manda and Malin, a duo of best friends in ninth grade. They are nicknamed The Bicycles as they cycle everywhere looking for fun and something to do in a small town where nothing ever happens. One day Malin develops a crush on a guy working at the local pizzeria, and a series on events – both fun and not so fun – begins to unfold. We’ll Just Ride Past is an accurate portrayal of a moment in life where it’s perfectly normal to change style and music taste every week and the world awaits. In Finland, the title it is published by S&S.

Ellen Strömberg is a Swedish-speaking Finnish author whose production ranges from picture books to novels. We’ll Just Ride Past was a domestic and international success and her latest YA novel No Beginning No End has been received with warm praise. It is the story of Benjamin, a shy teenage boy dealing with his mother’s death, as he grows close with Tristan, a mysterious boy.

Don’t miss out on this event!